Solider killed while rescuing others in Bronx fire to have street named after him

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BELMONT, the Bronx — A street in the Belmont section of the Bronx will be renamed for a serviceman who died while saving others in the deadly Bronx fire in December, Council Member Ritchie Torres announced Monday.

Today, I annnounced that there will be a street renamed after Private Emmanuel Mensah, the solidier who gave his life trying to rescue families from the burning apartment building in Belmont. pic.twitter.com/SftSRT4eTP

Private Emmanuel Mensah, 28, was visiting home for the holidays when the blaze broke out at 2363 Prospect Ave on Dec. 28. The fire was started by a toddler playing with a stove in a first-floor apartment and quickly spread up the stairs. Thirteen people were killed, making it the deadliest fire in New York City in more than 25 years.

“The stairway acted like a chimney. It took the fire so quickly upstairs, people had very little time to react. They couldn’t get back down the stairs. Those that tried, a few of them, perished," Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said.

Emmanuel's father, Kwabena Mensah, said his son was found dead in an apartment other than his own as he was trying to save others from the flames.